The lawsuit is a frustrating deal. It affects us all on many levels. JD and NH and Kubota are all suing for "trade dress" infringement (I’m not a lawyer so I might get some of the nomenclature wrong, please forgive me). JD says that anybody painting any tractor or implement green and/or yellow in any combination is coping JD. New Holland is saying that their colors blue/black and white and any sloped hood with flared sides is there "trade dress" and no manufacture can have any of those features. Kubota is suing Kioti specifically and there is nothing new about that. The frustrating part is JD and NH are targeting Chinese tractors dealers and trying to get injunctions against any Chinese factory importing into the US. Almost every factory in China is named by either JD or NH. Most of these (not all) dealers are mom and pop outfits and cannot fight back. I agree that if you build something somebody should not be allowed to copy it note for note and sell it but I have a white Ford a white International a white Chrysler. Wouldn’t that also be a trade dress infringement under the same argument? . It has come to a point in this country that if you can’t match the person suing you dollar for dollar you loose. That is very un-American. There is no way that if you put a Jinma and a JD side by side that you couldn’t tell which one was Chinese. If they get an injunction against Chinese machinery then every individual that has bought a Chinese tractor just got screwed. No more support, no more parts and no more trained mechanics that have experience working on them. Should only the wealthiest people in this country be allowed to own a decent tractor? My customers (either grey or Chinese) are not JD,NH or Kubota's customers. 99.9% could never afford a big three machine. I had an old guy years ago write me a letter saying if he didn’t have his tractor to get around on, he would have had to move off the ranch where he lived his whole life. He was a poor guy and there was no way he could afford even the cheapest old beater JD. The great thing is that he had a choice. The big boys want that choice to disappear and have you finance for the next ten years to get the work done at your house. That has worked so well for farmers........ I love competition in a fair market. I almost live for it. Bring it on because if I want it more than the next guy in America I can win. Suing people to compete is a lazy mans game. If there is a dealer saying “this tractor is just a like JD or NH” then he is a crook and should be shut down. The rest of the honest dealers shouldn’t have to pay for the bad ones. None of the dealers in the suits were ever asked by JD or NH to paint their tractors a different color. Because it is not about color it is about competition.
This is just my perspective looking from the inside out. I think the big boys build great tractors and I wish I could afford one. I had a choice, a new tractor or college for my son. Since he is picking my nursing home I went with the obvious choice. Sorry this is so long.
